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Actor Chris McKenna's only other genre credit is 1991's "The Boy who Cried Bitch" (a film I always wanted to see, but never found). Having said that, hold on to your bashed-in heads because the lad recently crashed into the genre scene full-force via his "tour de force" performance in Stuart Gordon's well-rounded and unapologetically brutal "King of the Ants". I recently had the chance to talk "mallet shop" with Chris about the film, the demands of the part, how it was working with Gordon and here's what he had to say.

ARROW: What is your favorite horror movie?

CHRIS: There’s a film my dad made me watch and he, in general, wouldn’t condone or support me watching horror movies at such a young age.  I was probably 10 or 11, and he had me watch a movie called “The Stepfather” with Terry O’Quinn simply for Terry’s performance, and I adored it.  And to be honest, some of the violence in that movie really reminds me of “King of the Ants” and how raw it was.  There’s a scene where Terry O’Quinn beats a psychiatrist with a two by four - Surprises him and hits him.  The way the guy collapses—it’s so painful to watch.  It was an amazing scene and an amazing movie.  Fortunately, later on I got a chance to work with Terry O’Quinn on a pilot called “The Contender.”  He played my father and I was of course petrified of him.  I stayed away from every two by four on the set (laughing).  He’s a great guy.  And actually, my very first paying gig turned out to be singing the theme song to “Stepfather II.”  I was flattered and honored to be a part in some small way of that film franchise.

ARROW: Did you always want to be an actor or did you fall into it by fluke?

CHRIS: I wanted to be an actor since I was seven, when a flyer came to my school regarding an audition for “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” at the local theatre.  I thought it sounded like fun.  At the time, I was always singing and dancing in the living room.  So my parents allowed me to try out for it. I believe I was type cast, as Dopey, in the production.  I had one line at the end of it, ‘I love you Snow White.’  That was my first speaking line ever as an actor and I was hooked ever since.  From then on, I started doing community theatre for years and years sometimes doing two or three at once.  Eventually when I was 11 or so, I had enough great reviews and enough people telling me I had to go to New York and be a professional actor that my parents said OK we’ll give it a shot. They brought me to New York and I booked an HBO special and shortly after, a Soap Opera.  The rest is history.

ARROW: What was it about the “King of the Ants” screenplay that made you want to do it?

CHRIS: At first I didn’t think I was right for the role.  I thought the breakdown, which is the sheet they send out that gives a little synopsis of the character and what they’re looking for in the actor to play the role, did not describe me in any way -  There’s a small guy, not noticeable, very meek and I am not such a little guy at 6’3” and over 200lbs.  I thought, there’s no way they’re going to cast me and  I’m going to hear once again that I’m too big or too physical, it’s not going to work.  But, a good friend of mine had me read one scene at the end where Sean gives the moral of the story to Beckett.  The scene was amazing.  I sat at an all-night diner on the corner, drank coffee and read the script three times over. 

I know it’s such a cliché, but I just really understood the guy so well.  I understood just where he was coming from; I understand why somebody who has nothing else going for him would do this, if for nothing else just to see if he can.  The script read so true to me and so real.  I was absolutely possessed by it.  I’m not like that.  I’ll do as little as I can to get by.  I won’t read the script more than once; sometimes I won’t read it at all if I can get away with it.  But this one absolutely possessed me, I couldn’t put it down and I had to play this guy. I did nothing else but work on this character for the next three or four days until I got to finally meet Stuart.

ARROW: How would you describe the auditioning process? Rough or smooth sailing?

CHRIS: I’d never ever been to an audition that I would describe as smooth, let alone smooth sailing (laughing).  It’s a stressful process.  There are a million people they’re seeing and very often you’re rushed in and out.  I showed up early.  I was ready.  I couldn’t wait to get in there.  I did everything I could to stay calm.  I didn’t have any caffeine that morning.  I met with Stuart and the casting director and I had a bunch of ideas I really wanted to talk to him about and I really wanted to show him that I understood this character.  I just really wanted to be a part of this film and I really wanted this guy, so I told Stuart, ‘There are a few ways I can do this.  I understand you can go this way or that way with it.  I’m going to show you a couple of ways if that’s OK with you.  He said, “Sure.”  So I tried some scenes a couple different ways and I said, ‘Now that’s an over the top version, I think you can do it this way too,’ and Stuart said, “Alright, let me see that.”  It seemed to me that he was very open to it right away because most directors just want to get you in and out of there.

They usually know in the first ten seconds if you’re going to work or not. He seemed very open to what I wanted to do and what I wanted to show him and what my ideas were. That gave me a good feeling right off the bat.  I did a few scenes and Stuart seemed very happy.  The casting director came out afterwards and said, “You nailed it!”  I was very happy about that.  I got a call back a week later to meet the producers and Stuart.  I knew there were a bunch of names in the mix that I was going to have to compete against and THAT I was not looking forward to.  I met with them, and it went just as well.  At the end I said, ‘I would really love to work with you,’ and Stuart said the same.  So, I knew at that point Stuart was on board and he may have had to do some convincing to the producers who may have wanted somebody who was an instant box office draw.  But, I knew right then I had done everything I could do and that Stuart enjoyed my performance and really thought I’d work and I agreed.  The audition process was stressful but Stuart made it great.

ARROW: What kind of prep did you do to get yourself physically and mentally up to the demands of the role?

CHRIS: First, I stopped working out because I was apparently in too good a shape to play Sean Crawley because the guy is an everyman.  So, I lost a little bit of weight, got a little softer, I shaved my head which I did right before the audition as a complete fluke.  I wanted to try it and figured if I was going to fall, I was going to fall forward.  I was not going to NOT get this role and not going to NOT be part of this movie because I wasn’t trying hard enough or because I didn’t take any risks.  So, I shaved my head because I thought it worked.  I thought it gave me a little bit of darkness, and I liked the way it made me feel.  I felt nondescript.  I even experimented with some old techniques you hear about from way back when, like changing my walk, changing my posture. 

At the end, I decided that this wasn’t the way to go and to be myself and to be simple because Sean is nothing if not simple.  I kept to myself.  I was living with my girlfriend at the time and she moved out.  I needed to be alone.  I needed to be an outcast like Sean was.  I didn’t have any social life whatsoever and with a 24-day shooting schedule I didn’t really have a chance to socialize.  I changed my habits, kept to myself and looked in the mirror a lot.  Man, I was having terrible nightmares during the filming of this movie (laughing) - I had nightmares of claws coming out of my mouth.  I was a little tortured for a while there, mentally, but, it was certainly worth it and I loved every minute of it and I would do it all again.

ARROW: They say an actor is as good as the director guiding him. Did Stuart Gordon help you in terms of nailing your performance?

CHRIS: Stuart is a good director. Stuart makes more with what he has than any director I’m aware of.  He’s very easy to work with.  He’s such a great guy.  And he didn’t over-manage, where the director wants their hand in every scene.  He’s got a “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it” attitude.  He just watches maybe making an adjustment here and there.  And there were a couple scenes that I was having a hard time with, and you can tell I was, and he was so great.  In the scene in the shed with the golf club, I was really having a hard time with the fear and the physical state the character was in.  I didn’t say anything like this, but he could tell, and he brought me aside and he gave me a little breathing exercise.  He said, “Just try that and watch how scared you get.”  And he was right.  

By the end of the exercise he gave me, I was petrified.  I was shaking; it was just what he said it would do.  And he didn’t have to get all deep with me and go back to acting class, he just said “Breathe and watch what happens,” and it worked great.  The scene with Kari [Wuhrer] where I had to kill her and I think I was building up to that scene.  I was really concentrating on it.  I had a lot of significance on that scene and Stuart told me, “Stop thinking about it.  Don’t think about anything but her and we’ll be able to see it.”  And he was right.  He’s never been wrong in my experience—he’s batting a thousand.  He knows just what to say, he knows just how little needs to be done, little micro-adjustments and you can watch what a great product he comes up with.

ARROW: What would you say was the most taxing scene for you to accomplish, be it physically or psychologically?

CHRIS: The torture scene was tough. All the scenes in the shed were very difficult.  Physically, mentally, the makeup, the sand on the floor that was cutting into my knees and my feet, being in the same room with Daniel [Baldwin] (laughing).  It was all very difficult to deal with.  They were tough scenes to pull off.  It was physically demanding: I’m being tied down, three guys are wrestling with me, some of the other scenes.  Those were really difficult in many ways.  They actually brought sand out from the desert and put it on the floor of the shed which was absolutely shredding my skin, and all the bruises that we all suffered.  I beat the crap out of Vernon [Wells] a couple times and he fell on my knee and that screwed me up.  We all got dinged up and nicked up physically, but mentally, those scenes were very draining and they were right at the end of the shoot where we had nothing left really.  Which kind of works with the character being that he’s so exhausted, scared and going crazy that I was pretty much going crazy myself by the end of the shoot.  So, the timing worked out nicely on that front.

ARROW: What’s next on your plate? What will we see you in next?

CHRIS: There’s a bunch of things that I have in the works, even some screenwriting. The next project I’m in is a Terry Zwigoff film called “Art School Confidential” playing a very different character.  I’m playing a New York cop.  I’m from New York, so it’ll be fun to be able to use my accent again.  It’s a whole lot different than Sean Crawley.  I’m looking forward to working with Terry and looking forward to the script.  I think it’s a great script.

ARROW: Do you have other aspirations within the entertainment industry? Screenwriting, directing…?

CHRIS: I’m an actor who also wants to screen write, maybe direct someday.  I’m co-writing a one-man show for a friend of mine called “The Jimmy Durante Story.” And, I have the rights to a novel from an author, whose son I grew up with, named Thomas Tessier. He wrote a book called “Fog Heart” that I think is an incredible story. I’m trying my hand at the adaptation process. It’s coming along and I have Thomas’ blessing for what I feel will be a really great movie.

ARROW: Are you going to bring your mother to see “King of the Ants?”? It's fairly brutal stuff!

CHRIS: My mom was first in line, she saw it immediately. There are some other members of my family that I may have to keep at a distance. We were playing it at my house and my grandmother was watching and I had to cover her eyes during select scenes. My family is very supportive and they love the film. They’re very proud. They’re twisted themselves, so I’m not really surprised.

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I'd like to thank Chris for the amazing performance he gave us via "King of the Ants" and for dropping by the site for some chit-chat. If you haven't seen the film yet, I urge you all to seek it out NOW! It's one solid and ugly ride.

READ ARROW'S KING OF THE ANTS REVIEW HERE